Brief Lapse in Judgement
by Shay59317
Summary: Alternate ending from when Elena finds out the Katherine looks exactly like her. Instead of running, she stays, and Damon offers up some friendly advice.
**Brief Lapse in Judgement**

Elena lay comfortably in Stefan's bed, contently gazing around his room in wonder. She'd never been in his room before, and it was interesting to see each of the little trinkets that he still carried over the century and a half that he'd been a vampire. Elena wore Stefan's long-sleeved forest green button up with the cotton sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and a simple pair of navy blue satin boy shorts that Caroline had thrown at her when they had gone lingerie shopping. Stefan's sheets curled around her waist, still rumpled from their recent lovemaking.

Stefan lay sprawled on her left breathing deeply in his slumber. One of his hands laid reassuringly atop her stomach, spread apart like a starfish, keeping her in place, while the other rested beneath his pillow. It was peaceful moments like these with Stefan that made Elena fall all the more in love with him. She heard a little sigh escape his lips.

"It's considered rude to stare ya know." Stefan murmured into his pillow, slowly turning to face her while blinking the sleep adorably out of his eyes.

"If you were awake, I could do more than just stare at you." A genuine smile crossed his lips and he rolled over until he hovered over her.

"You couldn't have woken me sooner? Vampires don't need sleep; allows for great stamina." His forehead met hers, their noses brushing softly together.

"You looked so peaceful, I couldn't have woken you if I even tried." She breathed. Their lips molded together gently in an age old dance, tongues tangling together as their faces brushed impossibly closer to one another. Through it all their eyes stayed locked on one another, reassuring the other that they weren't going anywhere. Unfortunately, one of them needed to breathe, bringing an end to their moment.

"I love you." Stefan vowed sweetly.

"I love you too." She returned swiftly and honestly.

Their lips fused together once more for a longer period, only breaking apart for air when absolutely necessary. Just as they were about to start another round, Elena's stomach gave a loud growl, alerting Stefan immediately to her growing hunger.

At Elena's annoyed groan, Stefan chuckled, "How about I make breakfast?"

Elena pouted, "I'd rather you keep me company in this large bed."

"Breakfast in bed it is then." Stefan proposed quickly while silently agreeing with her. He wanted to continue their previous activities, and would love to stay with her in his room making love all day, but her human needs came first. Before she could protest, he silenced her with another kiss.

"I'll be quick." He promised, throwing on some sweats before flashing downstairs to their kitchen. Less than a minute later, Stefan comes into the room with a sheepish expression on his handsome face. "We're out of food…" Stefan shakes his head disappointedly and continues, "I'll have to make a quick trip to the store."

Elena groaned once more, and moved to protest but it died in her throat. Their previous ventures had made her ravenous for some sort of sustenance, and she couldn't ignore the growing ache in her stomach. She beckoned him over to her, to which he happily obliged, and proceeded to plant a lingering kiss on his lips.

"Hurry back." She smiled softly at him as he strode out the door. Once the sound of the Salvatore's front door being shut echoed around the house, Elena let out a lonely sigh and continued to gander around the room for several minutes. Her stomach grumbled hungrily once more, and in an effort to ignore it, she got up to go search around Stefan's room.

Starting at the bookshelf, she looked curiously at the spines of the books for their titles and couldn't help gasping when she saw a couple first editions in his collection. At further inspection, a couple of his first editions had signatures from the authors themselves. To be honest, when Elena first found out that Stefan and his brother were immortal vampires, she didn't have the time to really figure out what that meant. The Salvatore brothers had spent lifetimes on this earth, wandering from city to city, and experienced the day to day life of each decade.

The Salvatore brothers must have witnessed so much history, a subject that immensely fascinated Elena; the idea of it all was truly a wonder. Just thinking of the stories that they could tell of their travels caused a wave of awe to suddenly rip through her gut. Making a mental note to persuade Stefan into telling her a couple stories from his past, Elena moved on in her search.

A photo album soon caught Elena's attention, but just as she was about to open it, a thought struck her, making her cease entry. Would Stefan think this as an invasion of privacy? She didn't know what was in that album, and she knew that even though they're dating, Stefan probably wouldn't want her to be snooping around his things without his permission. Elena made a move to set down the album back into its place on the bookshelf when a lone photo fell out of the album and onto the floor. The faded white of the back of the photo stared up at her from the floor.

From the back, the photo looked worn, and she couldn't tell if it was taken when cameras were first made, or when mini portraits were still being painted. Elena didn't know why a feeling of unease swept over her as she reached down to carefully pick up the fragile photo in front of her, turning it over to look at it when her curiosity trumped the better of her.

She soon found out why when the photo was flipped over. All of the air seemed to have been sucked out of her lungs as she studied the photo. Elena was looking at _herself_ in an old fashioned dress with beautiful brunette curls framing her face as she smiling angelically at the painter. A subtle mischievous sparkle resided within the eyes of her mirror image, contradicting the innocent smile curling on her full lips.

The questions that scrambled around her head vanished, and a feeling of something cold and sinister began to seep into her bones. A glance at the writing beneath the photo confirmed the feeling: _Katherine Pierce, 1864_.

A tirade of emotions swept through Elena, crippling her and making it hard for her to think straight. With shaky hands, Elena dropped the photo face up onto a wooden table as she began to back away disbelievingly from the photo. _No. Stefan wouldn't do that to her. Would he? Then why hadn't he told her that she looked exactly like his ex-girlfriend? Was she just the rebound that Damon had hinted at when they'd first met?_

Elena's nails dug into her palms, nearly drawing blood, as another wave of emotions overwhelmed her. Confusion, anxiety, disbelief, anger, heartbreak, sadness—to name a few—were just a few of the many that attacked her conscious viciously. She had to get away to fully process the information she'd just obtained. She had to run before she broke down, before Stefan came back. Elena didn't want to be near nor reminded of Stefan at the moment. Especially not when she found out that his ex could practically be her twin _after_ they'd slept together. Tears began to gather in her eyes. _Was everything he said a lie? His feelings too?_ Elena didn't know.

Gathering her clothes where they'd been scattered the night before, Elena was quick to slip them on after leaving Stefan's in a heap at the foot of the bed. Then she stumbled out of the room, trying to escape the confines of Stefan's room without breaking down. Another realization hitting her caused Elena to freeze just outside of his door. She was _tired_ of crying. Ever since her parents' funeral she felt that's all she'd been doing, and she wanted—no needed—it to stop. She was a big girl now, and needed to face the situation head on.

 _I'll be needing some liquid courage tonight for sure_ , Elena thought tiredly and trudged down the steps in search of Damon's private stash of bourbon. Minutes of searching later, Elena was pouring herself a large glass of the strong alcohol and plopping down onto the couch to wait for her boyfriend's impending arrival.

Halfway through the glass she heard a throat being cleared. The strength of the alcohol had already made her deliriously tipsy, so she hadn't been coherent enough to care about his echoing footsteps until he was entirely too close.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Damon chastised from behind her before she felt the glass being snatched from her hand.

"Hey!" Elena yelped, reaching over him to grab the glass. Damon smacked her hand away from the glass with a flick of his wrist.

"Nope, not gonna happen, Gilbert. Not 'til you tell me what's got you so mopey." The drink was already causing Elena's emotions to go a little haywire, which in turn made her more on the honest side than she would be under usual circumstances. So it was no surprise when she could feel herself begin to tear up once again. Her lips began to quiver, and in an effort to halt the sign of weakness, she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip.

"I look just like _her_." Elena croaked hoarsely. Damon's brows furrowed. _What was she talking about?_ His confusion was gone with the mumble of a single name. " _Katherine._ "

Damon's eyes softened. So she found out, and by the looks of it, she wasn't reacting well to the news. _No wonder I found her in my private stash_ , Damon thought. Her glass still in hand, Damon takes a large swig from it. He wasn't sure what to say to her, or if he should say anything at all. A silence swept through the room, both of them lost in their own personal spheres of thought.

"You two may look alike, but personality wise, you're completely different. Like two different sides of the same coin; together you make up one entity, yet each side is completely unique to the other." Damon finally spoke, eyes boring into her own.

"How so?" Elena's gaze becoming curious.

"Katherine was a very selfish person, wanting and attaining whatever she desired. She always had something up her sleeve, and everything was a game to her, a means for her amusement. Katherine was cruel at times too, but when she turned back on the charm, it was easy to forget." Damon explained.

"Damon, I need you to answer me honestly, can you do that?" Elena began hesitantly after she mulled over what he just revealed to her.

"Of course." Damon replied seriously. The amber liquid swirled around the glass as he twirled it in front of him. He needed a distraction from her. He could already feel himself begin to be sucked into her, enraptured, just as he'd been with Katherine, but for an entirely different reason. Humanity shined through her, like a light emanating from the brightest star in the sky.

Damon was like a moth attracted to a flame; he was bound to get burned too. Yet the fall was inevitable, for he had always been attracted to the unattainable, to the things he couldn't have. And what was more forbidden than his brother's girl?

"Am I just some cheap replacement for Stefan's former flame, Damon? Are his feelings even real?" Elena questioned him pleadingly, breaking him from his musings.

The hurt and desperation rolled off her, and it was then that he realized the true depth of her affection for his brother. The lucky son of a bitch. If Damon wanted, he could screw up any chance his brother had with this amazing girl in front of him. He could tell her that his brother still had feelings for her vampire counterpart, and that he was using her for that same reason. He'd promised Stefan an eternity of misery, right? So _why_ couldn't he do it? Why couldn't he ruin this for his little brother? For once in his life, he could _finally_ be the one to get the girl. Damon could be first, not the runner up to Stefan.

But Stefan was good, pure. He had a heart of gold, and—from what Damon could tell—truly loved this fragile human girl. For the first time in his existence, Stefan was enjoying himself. He wasn't drowning in guilt for being a ripper, he was _happy_. And as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, Damon didn't want to take that from him.

Damon was destruction while Stefan was salvation, and if Damon had to pick, he'd choose salvation for Elena every time; no matter how much he wanted her for himself. Elena deserved someone good, not a monster. Elena deserved someone better than _him_. _That's_ what made him stop himself. He wanted his brother's happiness, and what was best for the delicate human before him.

"I know my brother fairly well Elena, and I can tell that he loves you. He loves you more than he ever did Katherine. I remember him telling me that whatever he felt for Katherine wasn't real; all his feelings were due to the compulsion she placed on him." Damon spoke sincerely through the hard shell of his mask of indifference. The words were hard to get out, but he felt that he had to do it. He owed it to his brother for all the suffering and false hope he'd brought him.

A tidal wave of relief slammed into her, and her eyes lit up with the newly acquired knowledge. Elena didn't know how she knew, but she could tell that the elder Salvatore was telling the truth. She almost found herself feeling guilty for ever doubting Stefan, but she swiftly brushed passed it. Elena deserved the truth.

The front door slamming caught both the human's and the vampire's attention. In walked Stefan carrying a load of groceries. He was walking leisurely with the bags as if they weighed nothing at all. Just the sight of him caused a wave of awareness and sobriety to flow through her.

"Stefan." Elena greeted happily, jumping off the couch to greet him. She met him in the middle, trying to alleviate some of the weight, but he politely refused. He shot a cautious look in Damon's direction before beaming at the brunette in front of him.

"Elena. Sorry I took so long; you wouldn't believe how long the line was." Stefan shook his head in disbelief before bending down to give her a short, but sweet, kiss.

"You're here now, that's what matters. What's for breakfast?" Elena asked, biting her lip as her hunger hit her full force. The alcohol in her empty stomach wasn't making the situation any better besides giving her a pleasant buzz, and bettering her mood.

"How does eggs and bacon sound?" Stefan inquired with a pensive look across his face.

"Sounds perfect." Elena encouraged, leaning up to deposit a kiss on his cheek. After her confirmation, Stefan set to work on making them a quick breakfast. First, the bacon went into the pan, and when it was nearly crisped to perfection, he began cooking the eggs in another. He plopped the finished products onto two plates, and then reached over to turn off the stove.

"Bon appétit." Stefan handed her a plate of food that she dug into with gusto. He smiled at her eager movements and followed her lead, though he didn't really need the food; he hungered for something else entirely. Soon the sound of silverware connecting with plates and chewing were all that could be heard in the kitchen.

"So, what were you and Damon discussing while I was gone?" Stefan began wearily. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Damon was unpredictable, and had been the cause of Stefan's crowded forehead for more times than he could count.

"He enlightened me about something I was worried about." Elena responded vaguely.

"Do you have any other worries that need easing?" Stefan asked, concerned.

"Just one…" Elena trailed off, and at his prompting brow she continued, "Katherine. How come you didn't tell me that we look like identical twins?" Whatever Stefan had expected her to say, it certainly wasn't that. He turned a shade paler than usual and nearly spat out the mouthful of egg and bacon in astonishment.

"E-Elena, I'm so sorry! I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how. I promise you that I was going to, I just— "

"Stefan, calm down! It's okay, Damon explained everything. I'm not mad. Well, _I_ _was_ , but I've had time to process it all, and I can honestly say that I'm over it." Elena soothed. At Damon's name Stefan could barely contain his incredulity. _Why would Damon of all people help him?_

"Damon?" Stefan voiced his suspicion.

"Don't act so shocked brother, and you're welcome." Damon piped up from the parlor. Stefan had forgotten that he was still there. Stefan stared into the parlor for a moment, still trying to fight off the ages long distrust in his brother. Finally forcing it down he swallowed hard.

"Thank you, brother." Stefan murmured quietly. He was met with silence.

* * *

Hey guys! So, I originally began writing this with the idea that it would end up with Delena, but as you can see… that didn't happen. Let's just say my hands had a mind of their own, and this is where they brought me. I've been thinking of posting an alternate ending to this story as how I originally intended for it to end, so if you want me to give that a go, please give me some feedback.

For those of you who have read the one-shot I wrote called **Saturday Morning** , I've been working on its next chapter at someone's request (I'll mention who in the chapter itself), so look for that sometime during the next week or so. Thanks for reading, and reviews would be appreciated!


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